Saturday, 20 June 2009

THE salaries of the key management officers of the Philippine Daily Inquirer are apparently immune from the economic downturn.

Despite the profits of the country’s leading broadsheet last year skidding to P125 million from 2007’s P181 million, a considerable 31-percent drop, the top Inquirer officers saw their combined compensation rise by 9.2 percent to over P45 million from 2007’s P41.8 million.

Being a private, almost a family corporation, the Inquirer is under no obligation to identify who, and how many, are included in that elite corps of officers in its annual report submitted to the corporate regulators.

The publicly listed Manila Bulletin, on the other hand, decided to freeze the 2008 compensation package to the same level as 2007’s, in view of the company’s 27 percent drop in net income to P181 million from 2007’s P251 million.

Despite being a more profitable firm—the Bulletin owns its printing presses, while the Inquirer pays to have the daily and the related publications printed by the Rufino-Prieto press—the Bulletin’s eight top corporate officers received a combined 2008 compensation of only P15.37 million, one-third the amount received by their Inquirer counterparts.

This year, in view of the worse advertising situation, Don Emilio Yap has decided to slash by P674,000 the total compensation package of the top management group, led by president Miguel Varela.

Highest Filipino in Pepsi

Tessa Hilado, a daughter of Aquino-era LWUA Administrator Justino Bernas, has been appointed senior vice president of finance and treasurer of PepsiCo, becoming the highest ranking Filipino in the US soft drink and snacks giant.

A graduate of St. Scholastica’s College and Ateneo de Manila, Hilado occupied the same position in Schering-Plough since May 2008 before being invited to join the $43-billion company.

Before Schering-Plough, Hilado spent 18 years at General Motors. Her last position there was assistant treasurer, after previously being finance chief of the commercial branch at GM’s financing arm.

Money-go-round

• President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, an inveterate texter like Barack Obama, has ditched the bulky Nokia E90 Communicator in favor of the smaller E75, of which she has two, one in red and another in blue.

The E90 is retailing for P35,190 in Nokia stores; the E75, at P25,800.

• The domestic cruise ship 7101 Islands of Boracay’s Steve Tajanlangit has been seized by the Customs for some time now because of tax issues but the BusinessWorld was, until yesterday, still advertising a 3-day, 2-night cruise promo aboard the ill-fated vessel.

• The global food giant Sara Lee is moving its information technology operations to the Philippines in a bid to further reduce manpower costs.

Heard through the grapevine

The profit share of chairman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., president Ramon Ang and the rest of the board of San Miguel Corp. from last year’s income should amount to about P415 million, give or take a few millions.

The board’s profit share is equivalent to 2 percent of the year’s profits after deducting the company’s general expenses, the remuneration to officers and employees, and cost of the depreciation of buildings, machinery, vehicles, furniture and other company properties.

Followers

THE GREAT GLOBAL WARMING SWINDLE

We've almost begun to take it for granted that climate change is a man-made phenomenon. But just as the environmental lobby think they've got our attention, a group of naysayers have emerged to slay the whole premise of global warming.

The present single-minded focus on reducing carbon emissions may have the unintended consequence of stifling development in the third world, prolonging endemic poverty and disease.